SOCCER: VALENCIA HOPING FOR MORE OF THE SAME CHANGES HAVEN'T SLOWED VIKINGS.

Byline: Erik Boal Special to the Daily News

The Valencia High girls' soccer team was one of the feel-good stories of last season, coming within one half of sharing the Foothill League title last season with four-time Canyon.

Quite a bit has changed for the Vikings since last February, with Tony Scalercio stepping down after seven years to take over the school's boys' soccer team and his daughter, Kierra, along with Mackenzie Baer and Kyle Schnurr graduating off a team that finished 5-1-4 in league, 10-3-9 overall.

``When you lose three all-league players, it's tough,'' first-year coach Sean O'Connell said. ``We have a young team with a lot of young talent. But the leadership has been awesome. I've given (Jackie Keeley, Brooke Gauvin, Adrianna Hermosillo, Nicole Gingrich and Laura Gingrich) a lot of responsibility, but they've done a great job with it.''

Although O'Connell inherited a wealth of expectations following Scalercio's success the past seven seasons, Valencia has performed well during the first month of the season, despite competing against one of the toughest schedules in the area.

``Tony had seven great years and I took over a great program, but I'm putting in a little of my own personality,'' said O'Connell, whose team is 4-6-4 entering Friday's league opener at Hart (13-3). ``Most of these girls are used to doing things one way, but they're adapting. Hopefully, playing in these tough games will set us up well for league.''

--All together now: After a stressful holiday break that forced him to deal with several players missing parts of workouts or practices all together because of family vacations and other commitments, Canyon High girls' soccer coach Steve Ladanyi was happy to see his team back at full strength in Monday's nonleague game at Chaminade of West Hills.

Canyon became the third Foothill League team this season to defeat the Eagles, recording a 4-0 victory, with Courtney Belsheim, Sierra Goff, Michelle Moore and Alexia Zatarain leading the offensive charge.

More than the goal production, Ladanyi was impressed at the way the Cowboys wore down Chaminade, with all of the goals coming in the second half.

``We were flipping our outside midfielders every 10 minutes, and our center midfielders and our forwards every 15 minutes, and that really seemed to work well,'' Ladanyi said. ''They passed well and they played with good speed. If they keep playing this way, I think we'll be OK.''

Although Ladanyi won't have a full roster for Friday's league opener against Burbank because of some players having previous family commitments, he is optimistic that Canyon can take the first step toward winning a fifth consecutive title.

The first of two showdowns with rival Saugus is scheduled for Jan. 13, with the Centurions being the primary threat to end the Cowboys' dominant run. Canyon is 31-1-8 in league during the past four seasons.

``We just want to build on the Chaminade win going into Burbank,'' Ladanyi said. ``Hopefully, we get a good result and continue to build on it from there.''

--No room for error: Following his team's loss to El Camino Real of Woodland Hills in the championship game of the Hart girls' soccer tournament, Louis Romero had a simple message for his players: No more losses.

Hart, which leads the area with 13 victories, had a nine-game winning streak snapped against El Camino Real. The Indians will look to rebound in their league opener Friday against visiting Valencia.

Should Hart not drop another game the rest of the regular season, it would be in position to win its first league title since 2000, when it captured the last of its seven consecutive championships.